Seldom is Tom Hicks drawn offside. There's been hardly a peep from Hicks whilst attorneys battle it out over the auction, or not, of Your Texas Rangers -- even after JPMorgan Chase filed a separate suit yesterday contesting Hicks Sports Group's right to sell Rangers Ballpark as part of the package. But about an hour ago, Rick Ericson of the LeMaster Group sent an e-mail to media bearing the subject heading "Response from Tom Hicks regarding Star-Telegram opinion column."
The opinion column in question is by Mitchell Schnurman and deals with, of all things, the parking lots around the ballpark. In effect, Schnurman writes that Hicks and Chuck Greenberg -- who'll own the team, unless Jim Crane or Jeff Beck or Mark Cuban or the Ghost of Eddie Chiles wrest control at the auction that may or may not take place August 4 -- "cut a sweetheart deal with Hicks" to get the lots. To which Tom Hicks responds, via his spokespeoples though I like to think he now speaks in the first person:
"Tom Hicks has acted fairly, honestly, legally and responsibly in all actions related to the sale of the Texas Rangers. The parking lot land is owned by an entirely separate entity than the Texas Rangers, and that transaction is not part of the issues being addressed by the bankruptcy court. The Star-Telegram's assertions regarding the value of the land around the Ballpark are simply not supported by the facts. It should be noted that every legitimate bidder made separate offers on the land, as a condition of buying the Texas Rangers.
"Mr. Hicks, like many others, is hopeful for a resolution soon on the sale of the Rangers, but he has absolutely no personal control on the proceedings. Any suggestion otherwise displays a lack of understanding regarding these complex proceedings."
